More from McLellan on his two goalies and Minnesota well aware of that hot streak that Pavelski is on

Antti Niemi gets the start in goal tonight against the Minnesota Wild (as telegraphed in previous posting), and it looks as if James Sheppard is again the odd-man-out on the fourth line. Todd McLellan didn’t confirm, but Sheppard was the last healthy player skating with the corps of injured Sharks long after others had left the ice. And McLellan did say that it was a coach’s decision not to play Sheppard last game against Winnipeg, so health not a factor.

McLellan was asked whether Alex Stalock’s recent play was making the nightly goaltending decision difficult (again, see previous posting) and this is how he responded:

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“In September when he made the team he made it difficult,” the coach said. “He had a very good skill level there and we were confident. We don’t take making goaltender decisions lightly. We talk about it. We consult the goaltending coaches. We look at the lineup and, believe it or not, we do have a plan and we’re executing it as we go forward.”

Then came the question about Niemi’s workload as he’s played more games than all but one NHL netminder. Niemi has played in 43; Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes has played in one more.

“You have to know Nemo,” McLellan said. “I have more concern when we rest Nemo than when we play him.”

Even before the shutouts, McLellan had said Stalock would be getting more starts at this point in the season because of Niemi’s Olympic commitments. And Saturday, Niemi said he was OK with that.

But he also said the coaching staff had not mentioned that to him.

So is Niemi at all surprised by the recent success Stalock has had.

“Not really, the way he is in practice and how hard he practices,” Niemi said. “He wants to be out there and he doesn’t want to take the easy road out there.”

****Expect the Wild, who have won three of their last four games and beat the Chicago Blackhawks in their latest outing, to be aware when Joe Pavelski is on the ice tonight. That little streak of seven goals in the last four games, including three straight game winners, or the bigger streak of 19 goals in the last 21, warrants that.

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“When a guy’s feeling it like that, you have to expect that he’s going to be getting himself into positions and certainly he’s going to be shooting pucks every opportunity he gets,” Wild Coach Mike Yeo said. “So it won’t be enough for us to be close to him. We’re going to have to make sure we’re on him and on him tight.

“But at the same time,” Yeo continued, “if he’s on a streak like that it’s because he’s getting a lot of help and support as well so there’s other players on the ice we have to make sure we’re aware of. And we have to make sure we’re focused on our game defensively. If we do that, focus on ourselves, then it shouldn’t matter who we play against.”

****Had a chance to catch up with ex-Shark Torrey Mitchell, currently playing on Minnesota’s fourth line. He’s averaging 10:20 ice time this season and has a goal and eight assists. Maybe more significantly, he and his wife, Brindy, are expecting their first child, a baby girl, over the Olympic break. Good timing.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

I keep hearing about all the Sharks injuries then I looked at the facts. It seems the Sharks aren’t even in the top five league wide in man games missed….hmmmm. Then I look at the top players on the Sharks…three of the top five forwards haven’t missed a single game. Two of the top four defense men haven’t either. Wow the starting goalie hasnt missed a game due to injury and neither has his back up. Then I look at other teams. Pittsburgh during a long stretch of games didn’t have four of the top defensive players, their starting goalie or Malkin. The Ducks and Pittsburgh both have had to play the third goalies as has L.A. Chicago, Detroit…..all have had more and worse injuries to more key players. I know the Sharks have not had superstars like Rafting Torres and Adam Burrish all year….If only…m

Beer League Rocks

LMAO, @not happy hour yet

ZEKE

They are representing well, even if they can’t score. They aren’t letting other teams score on them — and that’s to their credit.

There was little reason to have expected these guys to hold the fort, but they have.

GP_hockeyhappens

More inconsistency returns….

The first time Sharks played the Hawks, Hossa was the only signif player out. You declared it should be an easy win for the Sharks. Now you’re trying to say the Sharks injury scenario doesn’t matter.

OTOH Alex, the Sharks (last POs) played very well against a Kings squad that is not playing well this season.

I don’t think LA beats SJS this season.

GP_hockeyhappens

Regarding an outdoor possibly in the bay area, I heard Heddy say he’d like to shoot a puck into the bay at ATT. Ugh!

Personally, I don’t want to see a hockey game at ATT. Site lines at a baseball field appear to be the worst you could have. You’d be stuck watching the big screen. Might be better and more intimate at Levi field. It also keeps the game more local if it’s in Santa Clara.

GP_hockeyhappens

Stevo, LOL…

Some don’t believe this numby is a troll. So, maybe calling the guy out will remain acceptable?

GP_hockeyhappens

I also think that. But just as likely, the ‘Nucks don’t really have it this season. I don’t think they can catch LA. And LA will start to get it back a little. It’s after the break I’ll pay more attention to them.

Stevo

Like you, I miss the old days (in this respect), but I’ve come to the point where I really like the civil hockey discussions better than the wicked cut-downs.

..but like a recovering addict, I still REALLY want to !!!

Buddy Elf

The fact that he posted this at the top instead of as a reply to the injury conversation below, shows he was just saying it for attention.

Just ignore him.

Stevo

I’m going to have to say that IMO, VAN is more PO worthy this season with Torts. I think they’ll give LAK a run for their money.

We’ll have just have to wait and see how Hockey Happens this season.

Hockeynut

The first half of your thread borders on being honest I applaud you for that but you “redeemed” yourself and preventive the juvenile personal attacks from the resident daycare mentality posters like Buddyelf and Sactoshark (or Renoshark depending if his mommy or daddy has him for the weekend I guess) with the second half of the post. Smart I guess. This is the most unimpressive six game winning streak since they haven’t beaten anyone above 15th in the standings (league wide) except the Lightning and they really shouldn’t have won that except for some bad goaltending from the TB back up. Even last night’s game was a third stringer and it took another soft goal to win that one in overtime. The good news is they are winning against teams they should beat. The bad news, there are no Flames, Panthers, or Oilers in the playoffs and there are no shootouts.

J B

I think Havlat is in Wilson’s office, sitting on a shelf, stuck there with museum putty until the right phone call comes along.

Hockeynut

I’d put Braun a little higher, I’m very impressed with his skating ability. He has developed quite nicely.

ZEKE

The trick with Levi’s Stadium is that 49ers basically could play there until around Jan 20. Plus, AT&T has the more dramatic views and it’d be easier to sell out. The one thing the NHL doesn’t want for a stadium game, too much supply, not enough demand.

I would also think the Sharks would want it in SF, the potential to expand the fan base is something they’d want to do.

Stevo

From ZEKE: They are representing well, even if they can’t score. They aren’t
letting other teams score on them — and that’s to their credit.

Spot on IMO. Perhaps some of the older/more expensive members of the bottom 6 might be on the outside looking in sooner rather than later.

On a different note, what is Burns doing on the top line?

Topcatone

How about a little frontier justice on Monday night, since the league would not handle the Hertl incident (properly called by the ice refs at the time). Use Hayes or someone we can afford to lose for few games. LA needs a big lesson, as they have been pushing us around all season, and the refs let them.

Stevo

Re SF I’d add that with the temperature perpetually around 50 at night, the ice would be in better shape than SC.

Beer League Rocks

Nobody has mentioned this from lasts nights game, I don’t remember when it was said, but Larry Robinson is non-committal about coaching next season, sighting his age (62) and health issues and all the traveling that the Sharks do. His input cannot be overstated and would be a great loss to the Sharks, especially helping to develop all the young blue liners.

Also during lasts nights broadcast they said Couture injured his hand against LA during the same game that Dustin Brown took out Hertl’s knee.

Beer League Rocks

The longer you resist the easier it is.

GP_hockeyhappens

Well, You are all right, as in my initial statement a while ago about this. Troll it is…. itch creme required!

GP_hockeyhappens

Good point about fan base, but I am not sure it would that critical in a decision.

Since the stadium series is happening this week, I think the chances of a conflict are slim, but it still is a risk since it seems to take about 2 weeks to build the outdoor rink.

ppc

Not to mention, the Sharks are currently 8th in man-games lost. You know he has no point when he has to pick a specific, unreasonably small number to just exclude the Sharks actual position. Truth is, the Sharks are more injured than they have been in a long time and it’s a testament to how good their best players are that they continue to win.

GP_hockeyhappens

I think they figured out how to deal with the temp and still have acceptable ice.

ppc

Burns, Braun, Vlasic, and Thornton are way too low on this list.

GP_hockeyhappens

And says even more about the role and depth players…

Thanks for checking the actual rank. I was going to guess 6 or 7 simply because the cutoff was 5. LOL.

Hockeynut

Brown did nothing wrong at all. Even Drew the biggest Sharks apologist and whiner after watching the replay said as much. Get over it.

Hockeynut

Just a little aside “by the numbers” The Sharks are a fairly pedestrian 11-9 against the other teams in the top ten in the league. They are getting the bulk of their points against the lower 20 (23-9 record) Playing a fairly weak schedule hasn’t hurt them.

Beer League Rocks

Wingels too

ZEKE

Heard both of those comments. They didn’t elaborate over what caused Logan’s injury, but anyone recall if he’d been slashed that game?

I think LRob will be back — I suspect the Sharks will find a deal that doesn’t require him to travel for a sizable chunk of the road games. When I see him on the bench, he looks like he’s loving it.

Stevo

In a TV interview, one player said that the ice got “a little sticky”, so seems safe to believe that the ice could have been better.

An executive from a rival Western Conference team told ESPN.com on
Thursday: “He’s been unbelievable. First of all, he’s a really good
player. On the one hand, he can play with any of their big dogs there,
Thornton, [Patrick] Marleau
or Couture, he can play with any of them and be really productive. But
they become a really dangerous team when he can come underneath as the
third-line center.

From a WC exec: “On the one hand, he can play with any of their big dogs there, Thornton, [Patrick] Marleau or Couture…”

Funny, I think the Sharks have considered him one of their “Big Dogs” before this season.

Team USA certainly did.

ZEKE

Hate when discus wipes out a post …

I was writing that, while I’m in favor of spreading the talent, that doesn’t mean Pavs has to be on the 3rd line.

Pavs has essentially made Burns less valuable on the top line. So we can roll with Jumbo, Pavs and Nieto (though I think Wingels is probably the better fit).

On a 2nd line, Marleau/Wingels (or Nieto) + ?

On a 3rd line, Couture/Burns + ?

The guys who could fill in the question mark are Raffi, Desjardins, Kennedy and pehaps even Hayes, who size might be a good compliment to the guys out there.

All in all, the Sharks can roll 3 dangerous lines, even if Pavs stays on the top line with Jumbo.

ZEKE

Pavs has been an ‘under the radar’ team MVP candidate for about 3 years. Its pretty obvious that the annual team MVP is Jumbo (unless a goalie has a big year, like Niemi did last year). But Pavs has been pretty darn valuable to this team — probably behind only Thornton in the last few years.

Stevo

Earlier today, I actually asked the gallery what was Burns doing on the top line. I love the guy, but he’s not scoring. He’s doing the other good stuff, but no one stays on an NHL L1 w/o doing some scoring.

So, I agree with moving Burns down to another line. I’m not sure that an L2 as good as Cooch’s was should be tampered with.

But the thought of an L3 consisting of Burns, The Scumbag with Skills, and Wingels makes me smile. Size, speed, skill, grit.

Pavs is taking the goals Burns used to get … and more. But with Burns, you do need a set-up guy in order to take advantage of that shot. Wingels, Raffi and Burns would be all chaos, I’m just not sure who’d get the puck into the net. Or win a face-off for that matter!!

Stevo

2 points:

1:Well, it was tongue in cheek, but I wouldn’t be too afraid to throw that line out there; with exception of your good point about FOs.

Isn’t one of those guys good in the circle?

2: When that line 1st came together, it was Pavs setting up Burns for the goals. Obviously the 3 of them figured out an alternate strategy. Maybe Jumbo got jealous? 😉

I’m just hesitant to reorganize such a great L2 as Cooch’s was.

Alex

I disagree but we’ll see how things play out this season.

Stevo

It should be fun.

renoshark

This winning streak was torturing him and he had a few weeks of gibberish, along with no points and no facts to get off his chest, so the self-imposed exile had to end.